Crosstie



W. F. PALMER.

CROSSTIE- APPLICATION man JAN. 13. 1920. o r g 3, WT

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UNITED STATES WILLIAM F. PALMER, 0F CHARLESTON, WEST VIRGINIA CROSSTIE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 23, 1921.

Application filed January 13, 1920. Serial No. 351,191.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM FRANKLIN PALMER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Charleston, in the county of Kanawha and State of West Virginia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Crossties, of which the following is a specification.

The object of the invention is to provide a simple inexpensive and eflicient cross tie for railroads, as a substitute for the wooden ties now commonly used, without dispensing with the resiliency which constitutes one of the main advantages of the use of wooden ties and has heretofore been practically unobtainable in ties constructed of any other material, and with this and related objects in'view the invention consists in a construction and combination of parts of which a preferred embodiment is shown in the drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a plan view of the improved tie.

' Fig. 2 is a side view of the same.

Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view.

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view taken in the plane indicated by the line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

The tie which is indicated at 10 is hollow and is of cross sectional quadrangular form representing exteriorly the surface of an ordinary wooden tie and formed of a flat sheet of metal of suiiicient gage or thickness folded upon longitudinal lines to form upper and lower side angles 11 and 12 with the edges of the blank asshown at 13, unconnected and located on parallel approximately contacting lines at the center of the bottom of the tie, the under surfaces of the portions of the plate adjacent to said free edges being serrated or roughened as indicated at 14. Manifestly in virtue of the serrations 14 being disposed at acute angles to the longitudinal center of the tie, and the longitudinal central opening in the bottom wall of the tie extending throughout the length of the tie, the springy quality of the tie is enabled to assist the serrations 14 in holding the tie against casual or accidental shifting either endwise or laterally. In connection with a tie of this construction the rail 15 may be secured in place by a. rail clamp 16 secured to the upper wall of the tie by means of bolts 17 and a corresponding clamp 18 which is preferably extended as shown at 19 to form a tread brace and is secured in place by bolts 20. These bolts by which the rail fastening means are held in place extend through from ,the hollow interior of the tie where they are accessible at any time for replacement, and obviously a tie of this construction may be substituted for the ordinary wooden tie, the dimensions thereof being substantially. the same as the regulation or standard tie, and the clamping thereof in the course of setting the same being accomplished in the same manner as in the ordinary wooden tie, and the roughened lower surface thereof will serve to prevent creeping or. displacement while the fact that the edges of the blank forming the tie are unconnected, will give the tie the resilience or spring action in use which is analogous to if not identical with that of the ordinary wooden tie.

Moreover as the tie is open from end to end being hollow throughout, the washing away of a road bed or of the ballast in the event of a freshet or heavy rain fall or overflow of a river. 1s minimized inasmuch as each tie constitutes a culvert which will permit the water to flow freely through the roadbed without disturbing the ballast and therefore without interfering with the setting of the ties.

- What is claimed is:

The herein described railway tie formed from a single blank of resilient sheet metal, reduced to rectangular form in cross section and open throughout its length and at its ends and having its free longitudinal edges spaced apart throughout its length and also having at its underside and at opposite sides of the said longitudinal space serrations disposed at acute angles to the length of the space, for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I afiix my si nature.

WILLIAM F. PALIIER. 

